GOOD

Kids Football Team Kneeling During The National Anthem Has Received Multiple Death Threats

‘Their choice to express themselves has now made them a target for hateful comments and threats to their lives’

 Penn Collins
09.30.16

The Beaumont Bulls, a youth football team in the town of Beuamont, Texas, will continue to kneel during the pre-game national anthem despite having received violent threats as a result of their demonstration.

Attention surrounded the team on September 4th when the coaches and players, taking a cue from San Francisco 49er quarterback Colin Kaepernick, took a knee and placed their hands on each other’s shoulders during the playing of the National Anthem prior to their game.

April Parkerson, the mother of 11-year-old Jaelun, the team’s running back, said to ABC News that the expression was never meant to serve as a condemnation of the country’s military or law enforcement institutions. Rather, she said the boys and coaches did it to bring attention to the racial injustices that are prevelant throughout the U.S.

Nonetheless, the team has found itself under fire, particularly on social media, where many criticisms have turned ugly, pledging or threatening violence against all involved, adults and children.

The team’s coach, Rah Rah Barber, who helped organize the demonstration was called out to be lynched by a Facebook user from Oklahoma. In the face of this threat and several others delivered to the pre-teen boys on the team, April Parkerson says the protest will continue. "Hatred like that is everywhere. But there's also so much love."

When asked about his reaction to the menacing comments, Barber said simply, "I ignore it. It's the kids I worry about. If they ever felt threatened, I would advise their parents to reach out to authorities."

The next week’s game garnered attention in response to the threats, but was played safely, resulting in a 19-0 victory for Beaumont and an appearance by local Black Panthers:

<

Players elsewhere in the country are also receiving similar threats for protesting by kneeling during the National Anthem. A Cleveland high school player, 16-year-old Rodney Axson, Jr. has received a death threat and messages bearing racial slurs for his act that same weekend:

Several days following the news of the death threats in Beaumont, the Bulls issued a statement to CBS 58 in Milwaukee which read:

“Their choice to express themselves has now made them a target for hateful comments and threats to their lives as well as those working with the team by those in our community and surrounding areas.”

The FBI has not yet publicly commented on their investigation of the death threats made to either the team members in Beaumont or Rodney Axson in Cleveland.

Sports

The world is rallying around Tori, the Target employee Tweet-shamed by an irate cheapskate

via David Leavitt / Twitter

Anyone who has ever worked in retail knows that the worst thing about the job, right after the pay, are the unreasonable cheapskates who "want to talk to your manager" to get some money off an item.

They think that throwing a tantrum will save them a few bucks and don't care if they completely embarrass themselves in the process. Sometimes that involves belittling the poor employee who's just trying to get through their day with an ounce of dignity.

Twitter is rallying around a gal named Tori who works at a Target in Massachusetts after she was tweet-shamed by irate chapekate, journalist, and Twitter troll, David Leavitt.

Keep Reading
cnn target msnbc fox news tori target employee
Business

The cost of having a baby even with insurance equals average the monthly income of a woman

upload.wikimedia.org

Childbirth is the number one reason American women visit the hospital, and it ain't cheap. In fact, it's getting more and more expensive. A new study published in Health Affairs found that the cost of having a baby with employer-sponsored health insurance increased by almost 50% in the past seven years.

The study evaluated "trends in cost-sharing for maternity care for women with employer-based health insurance plans, before and after the Affordable Care Act," which was signed into law in 2010. The study looked at over 657,061 women enrolled in large employer-sponsored health insurance plans who delivered babies between 2008 and 2015, as these plans tend to cover more than plans purchased by small businesses or individuals.

Keep Reading
babies health insurance healthcare
Health

Scientists just found the crater of one of the biggest meteor crashes in Earth's history

www.nps.gov

A meteorite crashed into Earth nearly 800,000 years ago. The meteor was 1.2 miles wide, and the impact was so big, it covered 10% of the planet with debris. However, scientists haven't been able to find the impact site for over a century. That is, until now. A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal believes the crash site has been located.

Tektites, which are essentially rocks that have been liquefied from the heat of the impact and then cooled to form glass, help scientists spot the original impact site of a meteor. Upon impact, melted material is thrown into the atmosphere, then falls back to the ground. Even if the original crater has disappeared due to erosion or is hidden by a shift in tectonic plates, tektites give the spot away. Tektites between 750,000 to 35.5 million years old have been found in every continent except Antarctica.

Keep Reading
science meteor crash